Danville school board OKs small increase in property taxes

Property owners in the Danville school district will pay nearly two pennies more per $100 valuation of real estate this year.

The Danville Board of Education approved a real estate tax rate Monday of 64 cents per $100 valuation, a 1.9-cent hike over last year's rate of 62.1.

Under the new rate, the owner of a house assessed at $100,000 will pay $640, compared to the $621 he or she paid last year.

The new rate is expected to generate about $265,000 in additional money for the district's general fund, plus several thousand dollars more for the overall budget. The new rate will produce 4 percent more in overall revenue for the district.

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Under state law, when a local taxing district enacts a property tax rate that generates 4 percent more revenue, it must hold a public hearing, which the Danville board will conduct in the near future. If the amount to be generated is more than 4 percent, the new rate is subject to hearings and a potential recall vote.

The board kept other local tax rates the same as last year: tangible, 64 cents per $100 valuation; motor vehicle tax, 66.9 cents; and utility tax, 3 percent.

The tax rates will support the working budget for 2003-04 that the board also approved Monday night. The budget totals nearly $16.5 million with nearly 75 percent of that, or about $12.2 million, going to the general fund.

Forty-five percent of the total budget comes from state funds, 42 percent from local funds and 13 percent from federal sources.

A look at revenue sources, expenditures

Based on a report given to the board by district financial officer Patsy Clevenger, here is a breakdown of major revenue sources in the $12.2 million general fund budget:

* State funds, $5.17 million.

* Local property taxes, $3.15 million.

* Local utility taxes, $800,000.

* Local motor vehicle taxes, $325,000.

* Local franchise taxes, $230,000.

* Beginning balance, carried over from 2002-03, $2.4 million.

Here are major areas of expenditures, 75 percent of which go in one way or another for instruction:

* Instruction (teachers' salaries and supplies), $6.2 million.

* District administrative support (superintendent's office and personnel, board expenses, and the state-mandated $1 million contingency fund), $1.74 million.

* Plant operations and maintenance, $1.67 million.

* School administration (school principals and secretaries and their expenses), $671,000.

* Instructional staff support (central office administrators, including directors of curriculum and early childhood services), $516,000.

* Student transportation, $507,000.

In a related budgetary matter, the board approved the salary schedule for substitute teachers. Substitutes were given the same 2.7 percent pay hike that was earlier approved for regular certified and classified personnel.

The pay for substitutes ranges from $55 a day for a Rank V teacher with 0-3 years of experience to $82 a day for a Rank I teacher with 20 years or more of experience.